


Banishing Ghosts

by TwilightKnight17



Series: Shuake Confidant Week 2018 [8]
Category: Persona 5, Persona Series
Genre: Beach House, Fluff, Gen, M/M, Moving On, Post-Canon, this is Hours canon but it can stand alone
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-05
Updated: 2018-11-05
Packaged: 2019-08-19 02:40:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,355
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16525742
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TwilightKnight17/pseuds/TwilightKnight17
Summary: Goro’s inheritance, unwanted or not, has a lot of potential.[Post-Canon/Hours!verse]





	Banishing Ghosts

**Author's Note:**

> November 5th, Day Eight: **Possibility** /Acceptance/Sacrifice

**July 29th, 2019**

Goro had been pouting for most of the taxi ride. It was adorable, but Akira was starting to get a little worried.

“Honey, we really don’t have to do this if you don’t want to.”

“No, I have to at least see it,” Goro sighed. His fingers tightened where they were laced with Akira’s across the backseat. “And I can’t burn it to the ground unless I physically make it up there, right?”

“Please don’t. It’s still arson even if it’s your house. I can’t go back to jail, Goro.”

Shido Masayoshi’s sentence had finally been carried out after a long two years of appeals. The initial news had come from Sae, who, against protocol, had called Goro just a little while after it happened. It hit all the Thieves much harder than they’d been anticipating, despite knowing that Shido had been a terrible human being. Despite everything, they still couldn’t be happy he was dead.

It was, at the same time, a relief that he was truly gone, and in the aftermath Goro found himself the recipient of an inheritance that he wasn’t entirely sure he wanted. Shido had apparently written up a confidential will and left all of his remaining wealth to Goro, possibly in an attempt to assuage the guilt his changed heart felt for years of neglect and abuse. No one knew the truth of Goro’s parentage save Sae and the lawyer responsible, and the paperwork had all been done out of the public eye.

What legitimate money was left after the police were through with it went straight into his bank account. Out of sight, out of mind, more money for rent and college tuition and the occasional splurge at the fancy sushi restaurants. Stocks and business assets were sold with help. He wanted nothing to do with them, and once he had the money, he would be able to choose for himself how to invest it. 

Possessions were harder because they required Goro to actually look through them. There were very few things he wanted, but Sojiro, Minato, and Ryoji helped him go through Shido’s apartment, figuring out what was too valuable or sentimental and what could be sold off. There was no way he would ever consider _living_ there; there were too many bad memories of the man that had walked its rooms, and Goro wanted nothing more to do with the place. The apartment was gone as soon as they could manage it, and that left the final major item in Shido’s will.

_’Please at least look at the probably-gorgeous beach house before you decide to nuke it from orbit’_ wasn’t exactly the conversation Akira thought he would be having with his boyfriend, but it was a worthwhile one, because now they were in a taxi on their way to see it. And as it came into view, even Goro couldn’t stifle a gasp. It was a beautiful house. Nowhere near the size of the mansion on Yakushima that belonged to Mitsuru, but beautiful nonetheless.

Half of the ground floor was open-air, with a spacious sitting room and comfortable patio furniture. A staircase led to the second floor, where a balcony stretched all the way across the back of the house. Akira retrieved their bags from the taxi, paying the driver before looking to where Goro was just standing there, staring at the house in disbelief.

“It’s...amazing,” he murmured, and Akira nudged him with a smile, both of their bags slung over his shoulder.

“Let’s go look around. If we’re gonna spend one night here, we might as well see everything that we can.”

Akira’s enthusiasm carried them up the stairs to the balcony, where he almost dropped their bags. “Holy shit, Goro, look at the pool! I think there’s a hot tub down there, too. Jeeze, I’m glad I packed us swimsuits. There’s even a path to the beach!”

“Hmm…” Goro hummed noncommittally, unlocking the door and stepping into a living room with a ceiling as high as a cathedral. The kitchen area was off to one side, every appliance shiny and new, and Goro bit his lip as Akira looked around before ducking through another door off to one side.

“The bedroom is _awesome_ ,” he called back, and Goro trailed after him, taking in the vaulted ceiling and the queen-sized bed. Akira set their bags down beside one of the closet doors, positively beaming. “Okay, this house is incredible. _Please_ let’s keep this one; it’s not like we don’t have enough money to take care of it.”

Goro sat down awkwardly on the corner of the bed. “I just…” He trailed off, trying to figure out what to say, and Akira recognized that he needed a second to gather his thoughts and came to sit beside him. Goro looked around the room, at the comfortable mattress and amazing view from the windows, and sighed. “I can’t help but...see him. In this place. It’s an uncomfortable feeling, like he’s still watching me. That’s why I don’t… I don’t know if I’ll ever be comfortable somewhere that he’s stayed.”

Akira hummed, mulling that over. “Can I ask you something?”

“Hm?”

“You worked with him for...three years, ish?” Akira looped an arm around him, nuzzling into his hair. “In all that time, did you ever know him to go on vacation?”

That forced Goro to pause, wracking his memory for any time when Shido wasn’t working, or scheming, or networking with his associates. “He...went on a trip, just once. To...Hokkaido, for a few days. Other than that…”

Akira smiled. “Does this place look like anyone has ever lived in it? We haven’t seen a single personal belonging. This could be a show house, for how clean it is. Every pillow is perfectly placed.” He pulled Goro closer against him. “I don’t think he ever spent a day here. I think it was a status symbol. And that means his ghost is only going to haunt it if we let it. Don’t think about him, think about all the possibilities.”

“And what possibilities are those?” Goro murmured, willing to let Akira spin out whatever outlandish thing he was about to say, to chase away the imprint of his father with a willing reminder of everything he had now instead.

“Well, there’s only one guest room, so...sleepover. All of us crashed in the living room in sleeping bags, watching movies on that giant TV, making smoothies at the bar while we argue over the next one to watch,” Akira began, feeling the way Goro started to relax as he spoke. “Or just you and me, away from the world just like we are now, following that path to the beach, or relaxing in the hot tub. Watching the sunset from the balcony…”

Goro chuckled. “I was expecting something ridiculous, but that sounds...sweet, Akira,” he admitted.

Akira grinned. “Well, did you see the sitting area downstairs, the one where you have to step down into it because the floor’s sunken down in front of the fireplace?”

“Yes…”

“I’m thinking ball pit.”

“A ball pit?!” Goro sat up to look at him, unable to completely mask the amusement in his expression. “Oh my god, you’re serious.”

“It’s the perfect spot for one!” Akira said. “And those plastic balls are really cheap if you get them online.” He leaned in to peck Goro’s nose. “My point is, we do things that make this place _ours_ , not his. A million possibilities to make this something better. Do you know what I’m thinking right now?”

“Heaven only knows, Akira.” But Goro was smiling, finally starting to see all the potential that Akira could.

Akira hopped to his feet. “We collect every couch cushion in this house and build a blanket fort in the living room.”

“That’s…!” But Goro found himself trailing his laughing boyfriend through the house, arms full of cushions as they raided each room. Akira was right. This was _his_ now, and he could make something positive out of it in a way that Shido never would have.

Their future...was truly bright.

**Author's Note:**

> I was looking at [this ridiculously impractical house](http://www.k2design.net/portfolio/custom-luxury-interior-design-architecture/) while I was writing. No I don’t know why most of the first floor doesn’t seem to have walls. But it’s pretty.
> 
> In terms of Hours!canon, I did promise that there was sillier stuff after the wedding fic. ;) There’s like...one more thing chronologically after this. And then I might actually be done. ...wow.
> 
> I had a lot of fun doing this week. I hope everyone had fun reading. ^_^ After NaNo is done I'll be able to get back into my main fic and the two that I posted openers for during this week, so look forward to that!


End file.
